GRUNDFOS IndustrY

ENGINEERING MANUAL
Industrial Boilers

1
ENGINEERING MANUAL

Copyright 2009 GRUNDFOS Management A/S. All rights reserved.

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 Table of Contents

General.........................................................6
• Boiler types........................................................6
• Boiler system (Fig. 3).......................................7
Boiler components.......................................7
• Deaerators/Condenser...................................7
• Economizer.........................................................9
  – Economisers in the marine industry......9
  – Economisers in land based boilers..........9
• Boiler pumps................................................... 10
  – Boiler feed................................................... 10
  – Condensate pumps.................................. 13
  – Shunt pumps . ........................................... 14
What Grundfos offers................................17
• Boiler problems.............................................. 21
  – Bottom blow down.................................. 22 
  – Weekend shot down................................ 22
  – Production changes................................. 22
  – Dosing.......................................................... 23
  – Feed pump start-up................................. 23
Pumps and sizing.......................................24
• Sizing................................................................. 25
Vapour table..............................................30
Engineering Manual / general
General

General

The production of steam and hot water is one of the

world’s largest industries. Grundfos is pleased to be
the preferred supplier of pumps for boiler systems for
these industries.
This construction is typically seen in the
marine, but is also used in the manufac-
turing industry:

Grundfos pumps are reliable, efficient and cover a

wide performance range. As an experienced con-
sultant in the implementation of boiler systems, we
engage in a process of close partnership and dialogue
to find the best solution for your system.

Grundfos is a global enterprise with a worldwide ser-

vice network. When you need export or on-the-spot
advice in a particular part of the world, we have the
technical expertise close by.

Boiler types
Three main boiler types exist:
• Hot water boiler A typical boiler construction in the
manufacturing industry:
• Thermal oil boiler
• Steam boiler

The demands and the sizing of the pumps used for

these boiler types are very different.
The inserted pictures at the right side show some of
the typical boiler constructions used.

Here you can see a cut open drawing of the most

common construction of a boiler used in the manu-
facturing industry. At the bottom you see the burner
chambers, which are surrounded with water and at
the top the smoke pipes. On the side of the boiler you
can see the two feed water pumps.

6
1. Hot water boiler Fig. 1
Hot water boilers are normally used in room and buil- Forward

Hot water
ding heating. These kinds of systems are suitable for boiler End

discharge temperatures of up to 140°C. The advan-

Burner
Shunt
tage of hot water over steam is that the energy loss is
much lower than with steam boilers. Figure 1 shows
how the pumps are normally installed in a hot water
Return
boiler.

2. Thermal oil boiler

In hot oil boilers, oil is used instead of steam or wa- Fig. 2
ter. The advantage of oil is that the system does not Forward

Hot oil
have to be pressurised above 100°C as with water boiler End

and steam. Oil is still liquid in atmospheric pressures

Burner
Shunt
of up to 300°C. In contrast, water requires a pressure
of 85 bar to avoid evaporating at that temperature.
The construction of thermal oil boilers and systems
Return
is almost identical to that of hot water boilers.almost
identical to that of hot water boilers.
Fig. 3
3. Steam boiler
SSteam is normally used in industrial process heating
Deaerator

due to its high energy content. Steam is also used for From water
treatment Level
sensor

cleaning applications and turbine generation. The Control

box

advantage of steam over hot water is its high energy Return

condensate

content and ability to release energy during conden- Condensate

pumps

sation. This also allows for very small heat exchan- Condensate tank
Control
box
Level
sensor

gers. E
Burner

E
Feed pumps
Steamboiler

Boiler components

Deaerators/Condenser
Deaerator and condenser tanks are only used in steam
boiler systems and not in hot water and hot oil boilers
as fluid is always in its liquid form. The construction of
these two types of tanks is almost identical, but as their
names indicate, they are used for different purposes.
Two primary principles are used with this form of
tank design; thermal and vacuum.

7
Engineering Manual / Boiler components

The tank design used depends on the type of boiler

being used. Each principle also has different pump
construction requirements.

Thermal principle
A tank using the thermal principle is connected to the
atmosphere via a valve. This design is normally used
in smaller plants. Here, steam is used to maintain
the tank water temperature at around 105°C, which
removes air from the water. A temperature of 105˚C is
needed because of the air vent valve mounted in the
deaerator or condenser which needs an opening pres-
sure of approx. 0.2 bar, which provides a total pressure
of 1.2 bar absolute. This means that the water will
boil at a temperature that is a little bit higher than
the usual 100˚C where water normally boils in atmos-
Air vent
pheric pressure. See also the vapour pressure table at Fig. 4
Condensate
the back of this manual. Besides the air vent valve, a
vacuum breaker valve has also been mounted to en- vent Trayed section DEAERATOR

sure that vacuum never occurs in this tank type. If the Aeration steam

vacuum valve was not mounted, vacuum could occur glass FEED TANK
level Liquid level
gauge
when cold make up water was added to the tank.
Heating steam

Vacuum principle drain rollers

Deaerated water to
Here an ejector pump is used to create a vacuum in boiler feedwater pump

the tank. This causes the tank water to start boiling Internal steam distributor piping
Internal perforated pipe (water distributor)
even at low temperatures. This in turn removes air Perforated trays
Low pressure steam
from the water. This principle is normally used in Boiler feed water (Recycled condensate and makeup water)

steam turbine applications.

Deaerators (Fig. 4) Fig. 5

A deaerator is used to reduce oxygen (O2) and car- Water outlet Steam
To ejector
vacuum system
bonic acid (CO2) levels in boiler feedwater to protect
Flanges
the boiler against corrosion. It is possible to reduce Baffle Baffle

oxygen and carbonic acid levels to about < 0.02 mg/l

of O2 and 0 mg/l of CO2, depending on deaerator
construction.

Condensers (Fig. 5) Baffle

Flanged
Tubesheet Tubesheet
A condenser ensures that all steam is condensed be- cover
plate

fore being pumped back into the deaerator and then Water inlet Condensate

8
into the boiler. New treated water is normally fed into
the condenser.

Economizer
Historically, economisers have only been used in
large-scale power plants. However, the demand for
more efficient boilers within the manufacturing in-
dustry and marine industry means that economisers
are now far more commonplace.
An economiser is a heat exchanger placed in the
exhaust from a boiler or in the exhaust funnel of the
main engine of a ship.
Pump requirements differ greatly, depending on Fig. 6
where the economiser is installed.
Condensate

Economizer in the marine (Fig. 6) Deaerator

Referring to the diagram below, the circulation pump Smoke to

chimney

has to be sized to the pressure and temperature in the

Steam
boiler, which can easily be 20 bar and 170°C. Because
of this, economisers featuring air-cooled top and Boiler

Economize
bearing flange may be required. The pump does not
Burner
normally need to be capable of delivering a high dif-
ferential pressure, as it only has to overcome the pres- Feed pump
Circulation

sure loss in the plate heat exchanger (economiser). Smoke from

main engine

Economisers in land based boilers (fig. 7)

An economiser used with a boiler located on land
uses the boiler’s waste gases. The water circulated Smoke to
chimney

above the economiser is normally supplied by the Fig. 7

main feed pump, but can also be fitted with its own
circulation pump see Fig. 7. The chimney will also in- Condensate Economize

clude a bypass to allow waste gases to pass around

Deaerator

the heat exchanger.

The construction differs from marine design as the Smoke from

main engine
Steam
waste gases released from the main engine of a ship
are significantly greater. Energy produced by marine Boiler

applications often allow for the generation of over-

Burner

heated steam fed directly from economiser and out

into the piping. Feed pump

9
Engineering Manual / Boiler components

Boiler pumps
A range of pumps for different boiler applications
exist. This section describes the typical positioning of
the various pumps and how they are controlled.
The most common boiler applications are boiler feed,
condensate pumping, economiser circulation and
shunt pumps.

Sub-system pumps such as dosing and water treat-

ment pumps also exist.

Boiler feed
Boiler feeding can normally take place in the
following 4 ways:
• On/off control
• Through feed valve
• Through feed valve and variable speed
• Variable speed
All 4 methods will be described in the following.

1. On/off control (Fig. 8)

Function Fig. 8
In on/off control the feed pump is switched on/off
Deaerator
through a level sensor or a differential pressure sen-
sor. When the water level falls to the “Pump on” level,
the pump starts pumping a large quantity of relati-
vely cold water into the boiler. This will reduce the qu-
antity of steam and cause the steam pressure to fall.
Control Level
box sensor

This is the reason why on/off control causes variati-

Burner

ons in steam production. It may also cause over-boi-

ling in the boiler, which may cause water to enter the
system. Feed pumps
Steamboiler

Benefits
• Inexpensive
• Easy to install
• No bypass

Drawbacks
• Poor steam quality

10
2. Through feed valve (Fig. 9) Fig. 9
Function Bypass

In this type of system the water level in the boiler is

Deaerator

controlled by a feed valve, which is controlled by a

level sensor or a differential pressure transmitter
positioned on the boiler.
The feed valve controls the water intake, which is
adjusted according to the steam consumption. This,
however, requires that the feed pump is set to conti- Level
sensor
nuous operation.
This system operates smoothly and is ideal for all M Burner

types of steam boilers, both small and large, and will

minimise the risk of over-boiling. Feed pumps
Steamboiler

Benefits
• Boiler feeding adjusted according to
steam consumption, as described.

Drawbacks
• The pump must be set to
continuous operation (energy consumption)
• Bypass
• The feed valve is expensive
• Pressure loss across the feed valve

Important!
Remember to size bypass according to the CR pumps Fig. 10
min. flow which is 10 % of nominal flow for the pump. Bypass

It may be an idea to stop the pump when the valve is Deaerator

closed. This requires, however, a signal from the valve.

3. Through feed valve, variable speed. (Fig. 10)

Function
In this system the water level in the boiler is control-
led by a feed valve, which is controlled by a level sen- Control
box
Level
sensor

sor or a differential pressure transmitter positioned E

M Burner
P
on the boiler. The feed valve controls the water intake,
which is adjusted according to the steam consump- E
Feed pumps
tion. This, however, requires that the feed pump is Steamboiler

set to continuous operation. This system operates

smoothly and is ideal for all types of steam boilers,

11
Engineering Manual / Boiler components

both small and large, and will minimise the risk of

over-boiling.

Benefits
• Boiler feeding adjusted according to steam con
sumption
• Energy savings on pump operation
• Constant differential pressure across the feed valve

Drawbacks
• Bypass
• The feed valve is expensive
• Pressure loss across the feed valve

Important!
Requirements vary from one country to another as
regards the sizing of boiler feed pumps.

Remember to size bypass according to the CR/CV

data as well as to min. flow. It may be an idea to stop
the pump when the valve is closed. This requires,
however, a signal from the valve. Find out whether
variable speed control of both pumps is required as
this increases expenses, but does not provide the
same flexibility as to alternating the pump operation.

4. Without feed valve (Fig. 11) Fig. 11

Function
In this system the water level in the boiler is con- Deaerator

trolled directly by the variable speed pumps wit-

hout using a feed valve. The pumps are control-
led by a level sensor or a differential pressure
transmitter positioned on the boiler. This way the
water intake is controlled according to the steam
consumption. This system operates smoothly and is Level
Control sensor
ideal for all types of steam boilers, both small and box

E
large, and will minimise the risk of over-boiling. Burner

E
Feed pumps
Steamboiler

12
Benefits
• As described, boiler feeding adjustment
according to the steam consumption
• Energy savings on pump operation
• No pressure loss across the feed valve
• Money earned equal to the price of an expensive
feed valve

Drawback
• Requires precise and qualified start-up

Important!
• A minimum frequency must be defined ensuring
that the pump can always overcome the pressure
in the boiler, and supply the minimum flow for the
pump. May be carried out with the “min. curve” op-
tion for the pump.
• It must be ensured that the pump stops when
steam consumption is zero. May e.g. be carried out
with a high level switch from the boiler.
• The regulator area may be small. If the level sensor
e.g. is 2 metres and regulation takes place in an area
of just 20 cm corresponding to approx. 2 mA, if the
level sensor is 4-20 mA.
• The level signal is normally inverted. This means
that if you get 20 mA from the level sensor, the boi-
ler is full and then the pump should stop instead of
speeding up.

Condensate pumps
1. Condensate pumping on/off (Fig. 12) Fig. 12

Deaerator

Function From water

treatment Level
sensor
The pumps must move the feed water from the con-
densate tank to the deaerator. This system is typically Control
box
on/off controlled through a level sensor positioned in Return
condensate

the deaerator.
Condensate
pumps

Condensate tank

13
Engineering Manual / Boiler components

Benefits
Inexpensive and easy to install

Important!
Requirements vary from one country to another as
regards the sizing of condensate pumps (two pumps
must always back each other up 100 %, requirements
as to over-sizing, etc).
As the distance to the deaerator is typically only bet-
ween 2-5 m, the pump must have the smallest head
possible.
The pump is typically located right next to the con-
densate tank. The water temperature may be up to
95°C and, therefore, cavitation may cause problems
in this type of system. Consequently, a customised CR
Low NPSH is a fine choice.

Accessories required
Dosing pumps and water treatment system.

Shunt pump
The requirements of a shunt pump are normally high
flow and very low head. The shunt pump is therefore
normally made with a 4-pole or 6- pole motor to get
the head down. Shunt pumps are normally single
stage pumps.

1. On/off shunt pump (Fig. 13) Fig. 13

Function
The shunt pump must ensure that the return tempe-
rature to the boiler does not become too low. If the
differential temperature is high it will stress the boi-
ler. The pump must be sized according to the lowest Burner
return temperature, meaning that it is over-sized
most of the time.

Benefits
• Inexpensive and easy to install
• Safe operation (few components)

14
Important!
Information about the correct return-pipe tempera-
ture to be obtained from the boiler manufacturer.

2. Variable shunt pump (Fig. 14) Fig. 14

Function
The pump must ensure that the return temperature
to the boiler does not become too low. If the diffe-
rential temperature is high it will stress the boiler.
A variable speed pump may be the correct choice for Burner E
this type of pump application. The pump must be
installed with a temperature sensor registering the
return temperature to the boiler, thereby ensuring a
constant temperature. T
Benefits
• Always constant return temperature
• Energy savings

Important!
Information about the correct return temperature to
be obtained from the boiler manufacturer.

Accessories required
Temperature sensor, R100.

15
Engineering Manual / what grundfos offers

16
 Fig. 15

What Grundfos offers H

CRN 10-10
(m) Set point
100

1. E pump solutions 90
Inverse Normal
80
With Grundfos E-solution it is possible to optimise Regulation
70
the feed pumps with the software. Feed pump opti-
60
misation by means of software is used, e.g. because
50

the pump curve is labile. See the curve on fig. 15 for 40

an overview of the curve and what problems it may 30

cause. 20

Flow Range
10

As seen from the curve, it is possible to have 2 diffe- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Q(m³/h)

P2 NPSH
rent flows on the same set point. Put differently, nor- (kW) (m)

mal regulation of the pump is required on one part of
the curve, i.e. greater flow and more speed, while on
the other, inverse regulation is needed, i.e. less flow
4 8
3 6
2 4

and more speed. A normal regulator is not capable of 1 2

controlling both and will become very unstable which 0 0

can lead to a poor steam quality.

17
 Engineering Manual / what grundfos offers

Grundfos E-solutions may be upgraded to address

this type of problem by increasing the frequency to
55 Hz and increasing the motor slip. The motor auto- Fig. 16

matically adjusts when it falls below the labile point

of the curve. See fig. 16.

The labile curve is not a problem in all boiler plants.

Normally it is or can be a problem if the feed pumps
are located close to the boiler with a small friction
loss as a result. You would therefore normally never
see this problem in the marine industry or in other
places where the pumps and boiler are placed far
away from each other.

2. NPSH
To improve the NPSH curves on the CR pump range
you can construct the pump with an oversized inlet
chamber. See fig. 17 where you can also see the result
of a low NPSH impeller and what effect it has on the
NPSH value.

Fig. 17

Standard
impeller

Low NPSH
impeller

H NPSH
[m] [m]
20 QH 2900 rpm1 8
15 QH 2900 rpm1n NPSH 6

10 4

5 2
LOW NPSH
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 Q[m³/h]

18
3. Air-cooled top (Fig. 18)
The air-cooled top solution is used with water tem-
peratures above 120°C and up to 180°C. For oil up
to 240°C.

Fig. 18

Air cooled top

The air-cooled top separates the seal chamber from

the pump by an air-cooled chamber, generating an
insulating effect similar to that of a thermos.
Via a narrow passage between the pump and the
air-cooled top, a small quantity of the pumped liquid
ensures that the seal chamber is always filled with
liquid.

19
Engineering Manual / what grundfos offers

4. Double shaft seal / Mag-Drive

The double shaft seal or Mag-Drive is used where
ingress of air through the shaft seal may occur. This
phenomenon can occur when a set of duty standby
pumps pump water from a vacuum tank, which can
lead to air ingress into the pump during standby.
As the diagram in fig. 19 illustrates, this can be ad-
dressed by transferring some of the water from the
pressurised side of the non-return valves back into
the chamber between the double shaft seals.

Fig. 19
Vacuum Deaerator or Return pipes to the
condensate tank double shaft seal chamber

CRN 150 pump with Double shaft seal :

Duty standby
feed pumps

Illustration of a pump top with a double shaft seal arrange-

ment in fig. 20.

Fig. 20

Instead of the pump with a double shaft seal arran-

gement, one with a magnetically-driven shaft can

20
also be used. See more in the Grundfos catalogue
Custom-built pumps.

5. Bearing flange (Fig. 21)

If the inlet pressure is high, as with an economiser
Fig. 21
pump in a marine boiler installation, you may need to
consider fitting a bearing flange.

A bearing flange is an additional flange with an

oversize ball bearing to absorb axial forces in both
directions. The coupling part of the flange ensures
optimum alignment.

Boiler problems
When discussing problems with boilers and pumps
that break down, some topics keep recurring. Some
of them are mentioned here.

Bottom blow down

A problem we often see in the boiler business is ca-
vitation due to bottom blow down of the boiler.
A bottom blow down is when water is let out from
the water reservoir in the bottom of the boiler.
The reason for doing this blow down is that suspen-
ded solids in the water can be kept in suspension as
long as the boiler water is agitated, but as soon as
the agitation stops, the suspended solids will fall to
the bottom of the boiler. If the solids are not remo-
ved, they will accumulate and, given time, will inhibit
the heat transfer from the boiler fire tubes, which will
overheat or even fail.

The normal method of removing this sludge is

through short, sharp blasts using a relatively large
valve at the bottom of the boiler. The objective is to
allow the sludge time to redistribute itself so that
more may be removed at the next blow down.

The duration and frequency of the blow down vary

from the different boiler manufacturers.

21
Engineering Manual / what grundfos offers

The pump problem starts when the blow down time

is so long that the pressure in the boiler starts to fall.
This will or can result in the feed pump running out of
curve which means that the required NPSH value for
the pump will increase dramatically. And this results
in cavitation and over time break down of the pump.

Weekend shot down

Many of our customers have productions that stops
in the weekend. This means that they also stop the
steam production over the weekend and only keep
the boiler at a minimum temperature to be ready
to start up again. How they choose to carry out this
standby period is very different from customer to
customer, but often a little amount of steam is re-
cycled from the boiler to the deaerator to keep that
heated as well. From time to time they then start the
boiler to correct the levels in the boiler and deaerator
and this may cause problems both with cavitation
and water hammer. Cavitation due to a lower pres-
sure in the boiler than normal and water hammer
due to the column of water in the pump being coo-
led down at standstill as it is not insulated. And when
the pump is subsequently started you send a column
of “cold” water through the pipes resulting in water
hammer in the system.

Production changes
Often we see that the production changes over time
so they sometimes use larger amounts of steam than
the data available to us during sizing of the boiler.
This may result in two small pumps; meaning that we
run with two big flows in the pumps and because of
this, a bigger NPSH is required.

Often the customers also have different operation

patterns than they inform us about when we size the
feed pumps. For example we had a customer who
once a month used steam for an hour to clean his tur-
bines. This resulted in such high pressure drops in the
boiler that the pump cavitated an hour every month.

22
Dosing
Normally no problems arise due to the way the che-
micals used are being dosed into the water. But from
time to time we have seen an increase in tear of the
impeller if the chemicals are being dosed directly in
front of the feed pumps. This is because the concen-
tration can be very high in the pump due to the che-
micals not having been mixed properly before pas-
sing the pump.

If it is a large CR with bronze bearing it is important

to keep the PH value in the boiler water below 10 as
it will otherwise tear down the bronze. It is usually
not a problem as the boiler manufacturer also has
an interest in keeping the PH value at approx. 8-9. Be
aware that if NH3 is added to lower the PH value, the
NH3 will also tear down the bronze.

Feed pump start-up

When the pumps are being started, you have to take
the following two things into consideration.

If the pump is equipped with a frequency converter, it

is important that the pump starts at such high speed
that it delivers a higher pressure than the one in the
boiler. If not, it will be like running against closed val-
ves until it overcomes that pressure. This can result in
a burned shaft seal.

If the ramp up time is set to 0 sec., the water column

in the inlet of the pump has been shown to having
been torn apart and some sort of vacuum pockets
have been created. When that pocket collapses again
or the water column catches up, it creates some sort
of water hammer with a very high pressure. This
phenomenon happens very fast and pressure peaks
above 120 bar have been found. This pressure peak
can destroy all sensors in the inlet of the pump and at
the same time lift the chamber stack in the pump so
explosively that the motor bearings can be damaged.

23
Engineering Manual /pumps and sizing

Pumps and sizing

Before sizing your pumps, the following three factors
need to be considered:

Cavitation
If the water in the deaerator or the condensate tank
has a high temperature, it is difficult to pump wit-
hout causing the pump to cavitate. The higher the
temperature, the more likely cavitation is to occur.
This is because you have to “pull” in the water in the
first impeller and as a result the pressure will fall a
little and the water will start to evaporate. When the
pressure is rising through the impeller and the small
steam bobbles are starting to implode and become
water again, this is called cavitation.

Because of this problem, the deaerator / condensate

tank is often placed several metres above the pump
inlet to ensure as high an inlet pressure as possible.
The pump can be made with a special first stage de-
sign that reduces the pump’s NPSH value. See more
under sizing of pumps.

Shaft seal or Mag-Drive

For feed pumps pumping from a vacuum tank, the-
re is a risk of air infiltration to the pump through
the shaft seal. This phenomenon occurs when two
feed pumps are running in parallel as duty standby
pumps. Here, there is a risk that the standby pump
may let air through the shaft seal due to the va-
cuum in the deaerator / condensate tank. This pro-
blem can be addressed by installing pumps with
a double shaft seal arrangement with barrier wa-
ter or a Mag-Drive pump. Read more about our
custom-built pumps in the Grundfos catalogue.

24
Sizing
In the EU, the EN 12952-7 norm has to be used when
sizing pumps. However, please check the factor re-
quirements in your local country.

Flow safety factor according

to EN 12952-7
The feed pump capacity shall correspond at least to
1.25 times the allowable steam output of all steam
boilers. For safety reasons, 1.15 times of maximum
continuous rating is enough. For availability and dif-
ference in service conditions a greater margin may be
necessary.

Where boiler waters are constantly blown down in

volumes exceeding 5 % of the allowable steam out-
put, the feed pump capacity shall be increased by the
corresponding percentage e.g., if the blow down is
8 % of the allowable steam output, the feed pump
capacity shall be increased by 8 %.

Pressure safety factor according

to EN 12952-7
The feed pump shall be capable of supplying the
steam boiler with both the feed water quantity at
maximum allowable pressure as specified above and
the feed water quantity corresponding to the allowa-
ble steam output 1.1 times the allowable working
pressure.

In some countries you are allowed to reduce the 10 %

if the security valve is of a certain size. Please check
the local rules and regulations.

Besides the rules and regulations above, you cannot

just read the flow and pressure on the nameplate off
the boiler and use this data to size the pump. This is
because of the high temperature on the water and
hereby the lower density of the pumped water. See
the example below.

25
Engineering Manual /pumps and sizing

Be aware that pumps in boiler applications are

not a part of the Pressure equipment directive
97/23/EC (PED) according to guideline 1/11.

Example of flow and head calculation Fig. 22

The following information is taken from the boiler
nameplate in fig. 22. Condensate

• QBoiler = 20 tons/hour Deaerator

• PBoiler max = 12.5 bar

• PBoiler operating = 10 bar Steam
20 ton/hour
175°C
• Temp. = 175° C

5m
Boiler

As you can see from the illustration above, the 175°C

mentioned on the nameplate is the temperature Burner

on the steam in the outlet from the boiler. This infor-

mation however is of no use as the pump never re- Feed pump

gisters it. When sizing you must always use the

temperature in the deaerator.

From the vapour table we have following data on

water with a temp. of 104°C.
Density (rho)= 955.2 kg/m3
Vapour pressure = 1.1668 bar

First we must calculate the data from the nameplate

to m3/h and mVs that can be used in the sizing.
Q Boiler 20 . 103
Q Boiler = 3
ρ = 955.2 = 20.9m /h

pBoiler 12.5 . 105

hBoiler = = = 133.4mVs
ρ.g 955.2 . 9.81

pBoiler 10 . 105
hOperating = = = 106.7mVs
ρ.g 955.2 . 9.81

26
When we then apply the safety factors from EN
12952-7, we get the flow and head as specified below.

Q Pump max = 1.25 x Q Boiler =1.25 x 20.9 = 26.1 m3/h

Q Pump continuous = 1.15 x Q boiler = 1.15 x 20,9 = 24.0 m3/h
hPump = 1.1 x hboiler = 1.1 x 133.4 = 146.7 mVs

All values are now calculated so we can start to

choose the pump. Please notice that the pumps do
not have to handle both the flow and pressure at the
same time. It should be carried out as shown below Fig. 23
and in fig 23.
H
CRE 20-14
(m)
100%
Situation 1.: Flow 26.1 m3/h at 133.4 mVs 200 Q = 26.1 m³/h
H = 133 m
180 n = 100% / 50 Hz
Situation 2.: Head 146.7 mVs at 20.9 m3/h
160

140
From these situations we choose the following pump
because the pump is capable of doing both situations. 120

100

Now we have a pump that can do the job, but before 80

ordering we have calculate the NPSH value.
60

40
To avoid pump cavitation, Q = 20.9 m³/h
H = 147 m
NPSHsystem – NPSHpump 20 Eta pump = 68.9%
Eta pump+motor = 58.9%
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 Q(m³/h)
NPSHsystem = hb – hf – hv ± hgeo – hs P P2 = 13.6 kW NPSH
(kW) P1 = 16 kW (m)
16 P1 8

NPSHsystem = Is the pressure available at the inlet of P2

12 6
the pump.
hb = Atmospheric pressure at the pump site. 8 4
hf = Friction loss in the suction pipe.
4 2
hv = Vapour pressure of the liquid.
hgeo = Vapour pressure of the liquid. 0 NPSH = 3.83 m 0

hs = Safety factor. Normally varies between 0.5

and 1 m.

27
 Engineering Manual / Pumps and sizing

Example: : With the value from earlier and the tank

placed 5 m above the pumps, the following formula
is found:
hsystem = p – hf – p – hgeo – hs =
ρ.g ρ.g

1.25 . 105 1.25 . 105

–2– +5 – 1 = 2.0mVs
955.2 . 9.81 955.2 . 9.81

As written earlier it is the density of 104°C water we

are using as this is what the pump registers.
But when we take another look at the formula we will
see that the hb and the hv offset each other. This is
because the water in the deaerator always is kept at
the boiling point.

This phenomenon will always occur in a boiler system

and because of that we can reduce the formula to the
following.

NPSHsystem = hf – ± hgeo – hs

So now we have a NPSHsystem on 2 mVs, and the two

selected pumps have NPSH values way above that.
Because of this we will now look at the low NPSH ver-
sions of the pumps, see fig 24.

Fig. 24
H NPSH
[m] [m]
20 QH 2900 rpm1 8
15 QH 2900 rpm1n NPSH 6

10 4

5 2
LOW NPSH
0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 Q[m³/h]

28
As we can see on the curve, this pump can bee used in
a low NPSH version.
We have now found a pump that can handle the job,
fig. 25. If we try to put in the actual duty point it looks
alright, but if we compare it with a pump with 2 less
impellers it is looking even better, fig. 26. But please
notice that if we choose the pump with 12 impellers,
it must run over synchronous to reach the duty point
according to the EN norm. Which one you choose is
up to you.

Fig. 25
H
CRE 20-14
(m)
100%
200 Q = 20.9 m³/h
H = 107 m
180 n = 85% / 42 Hz Fig. 26
H eta
160 CR 20-12
85% (m) 100% (%)
Q = 20.9 m³/h
140 160 H = 107 m
n = 90%
90%
120 140

100 120

80 100

60 80 80
70
40 60 60
50
20 40 “EN” duty point 40
Eta pump = 71.3%
Eta pump+motor = 60.9% Q = 26.1 m³/h 30
0 20 H = 133 m 20
0 5 10 15 20 25 Q(m³/h) 10
Eta pump = 72.5%
P P2 = 8.55 kW NPSH 0 0
(kW) P1 = 10 kW (m) 0 5 10 15 20 25 Q(m³/h)
P1 8 P2 NPSH
16 P2 = 8.41 kW
(kW) (m)
P2
12 6
12 6

8 4 8 4

4 2 4 2

0 NPSH = 2.13 m 0 0 NPSH = 1.93 m 0

29
Engineering Manual / Vapour table

Vapour table

Vapour pressure and density of water at different temperatures

Vapour pressure p and density ρ of water at different temperatures
This table shows the
t[°C] T[K] P[bar] ρ[kg/m3] t[°C] T[K] P[bar] ρ[kg/m3] t[°C] T[K] P[bar] ρ[kg/m3]
vapour pressure p [bar]
and the density ρ [kg/ 0 273.15 0.00611 0999.8 138 411.15 3.414 927.6
1 274.15 0.00657 0999.9 61 334.15 0.2086 982.6 140 413.15 3.614 925.8
m3] of water at different 2 275.15 0.00706 0999.9 62 335.15 0.2184 982.1 145 418.15 4.155 921.4
3 276.15 0.00758 0999.9 63 336.15 0.2286 981.6 150 423.15 4.760 916.8
temperatures t [oC]. 4 277.15 0.00813 1000.0 64 337.15 0.2391 981.1
Likewise, the table shows 5 278.15 0.00872 1000.0 65 338.15 0.2501 980.5 155 428.15 5.433 912.1
6 279.15 0.00935 1000.0 66 339.15 0.2615 979.9 160 433.15 6.181 907.3
the corresponding 7 280.15 0.01001 999.9 67 340.15 0.2733 979.3 165 438.15 7.008 902.4
absolute temperature T 8 281.15 0.01072 999.9 68 341.15 0.2856 978.8 170 443.15 7.920 897.3
9 282.15 0.01147 999.8 69 342.15 0.2984 978.2 175 448.15 8.924 892.1
[K]. 10 283.15 0.01227 999.7 70 343.15 0.3116 977.7
180 453.15 10.027 886.9
11 284.15 0.01312 999.7 71 344.15 0.3253 977.0 185 458.15 11.233 881.5
12 285.15 0.01401 999.6 72 345.15 0.3396 976.5 190 463.15 12.551 876.0
13 286.15 0.01497 999.4 73 346.15 0.3543 976.0 195 468.15 13.987 870.4
14 287.15 0.01597 999.3 74 347.15 0.3696 975.3 200 473.15 15.50 864.7
15 288.15 0.01704 999.2 75 348.15 0.3855 974.8
16 289.15 0.01817 999.0 76 349.15 0.4019 974.1 205 478.15 17.243 858.8
17 290.15 0.01936 998.8 77 350.15 0.4189 973.5 210 483.15 19.077 852.8
18 291.15 0.02062 998.7 78 351.15 0.4365 972.9 215 488.15 21.060 846.7
19 292.15 0.02196 998.5 79 352.15 0.4547 972.3 220 493.15 23.198 840.3
20 293.15 0.02337 998.3 80 353.15 0.4736 971.6 225 498.15 25.501 833.9


21 294.15 0.02485 998.1 81 354.15 0.4931 971.0 230 503.15 27.976 827.3
22 295.15 0.02642 997.8 82 355.15 0.5133 970.4 235 508.15 30.632 820.5
23 296.15 0.02808 997.6 83 356.15 0.5342 969.7 240 513.15 33.478 813.6
24 297.15 0.02982 997.4 84 357.15 0.5557 969.1 245 518.15 36.523 806.5
25 298.15 0.03166 997.1 85 358.15 0.5780 968.4 250 523.15 39.776 799.2
26 299.15 0.03360 996.8 86 359.15 0.6011 967.8 255 528.15 43.246 791.6
27 300.15 0.03564 996.6 87 360.15 0.6249 967.1
28 301.15 0.03778 996.3 88 361.15 0.6495 966.5 260 533.15 46.943 783.9
29 302.15 0.04004 996.0 89 362.15 0.6749 965.8 265 538.15 50.877 775.9
30 303.15 0.04241 995.7 90 363.15 0.7011 965.2 270 543.15 55.058 767.8
275 548.15 59.496 759.3
31 304.15 0.04491 995.4 91 364.15 0.7281 964.4 280 553.15 64.202 750.5
32 305.15 0.04753 995.1 92 365.15 0.7561 963.8
33 306.15 0.05029 994.7 93 366.15 0.7849 963.0 285 558.15 69.186 741.5
34 307.15 0.05318 994.4 94 367.15 0.8146 962.4 290 563.15 74.461 732.1
35 308.15 0.05622 994.0 95 368.15 0.8453 961.6 295 568.15 80.037 722.3
36 309.15 0.05940 993.7 96 369.15 0.8769 961.0 300 573.15 85.927 712.2
37 310.15 0.06274 993.3 97 370.15 0.9094 960.2 305 578.15 92.144 701.7
38 311.15 0.06624 993.0 98 371.15 0.9430 959.6 310 583.15 98.700 690.6
39 312.15 0.06991 992.7 99 372.15 0.9776 958.6
40 313.15 0.07375 992.3 100 373.15 1.0133 958.1 315 588.15 105.61 679.1
320 593.15 112.89 666.9
41 314.15 0.07777 991.9 102 375.15 1.0878 956.7 325 598.15 120.56 654.1
42 315.15 0.08198 991.5 104 377.15 1.1668 955.2 330 603.15 128.63 640.4
43 316.15 0.08639 991.1 106 379.15 1.2504 953.7 340 613.15 146.05 610.2
44 317.15 0.09100 990.7 108 381.15 1.3390 952.2
45 318.15 0.09582 990.2 110 383.15 1.4327 950.7 350 623.15 165.35 574.3
46 319.15 0.10086 989.8 360 633.15 186.75 527.5
47 320.15 0.10612 989.4 112 385.15 1.5316 949.1
48 321.15 0.11162 988.9 114 387.15 1.6362 947.6 370 643.15 210.54 451.8
49 322.15 0.11736 988.4 116 389.15 1.7465 946.0 374.15 647.30 221.2 315.4
50 323.15 0.12335 988.0 118 391.15 1.8628 944.5
120 393.15 1.9854 942.9
51 324.15 0.12961 987.6
52 325.15 0.13613 987.1 122 395.15 2.1145 941.2
53 326.15 0.14293 986.6 124 397.15 2.2504 939.6
54 327.15 0.15002 986.2 126 399.15 2.3933 937.9
55 328.15 0.15741 985.7 128 401.15 2.5435 936.2
56 329.15 0.16511 985.2 130 403.15 2.7013 934.6
57 330.15 0.17313 984.6
58 331.15 0.18147 984.2 132 405.15 2.8670 932.8
59 332.15 0.19016 983.7 134 407.15 3.041 931.1
60 333.15 0.19920 983.2 136 409.15 3.223 929.4

30
 Being responsible is our foundation
Engineering Manual / General
Thinking ahead makes it possible
Innovation is the essence

Ver 01. 06/04/2010

GRUNDFOS A/S
Poul Due Jensens Vej 7
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